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S.B.

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Tried & Tested: Embracing Vegetables!

by S.B. on June 17, 2010

Recently, I fell into a vegetable rut. A very deep vegetable rut. Curiously, I love to cook and I love vegetables (well, most of them), but I just couldn’t get myself to make enough of them beyond those in our regular rotation at home: spinach, broccoli, carrots, salad greens, potatoes (and do potatoes even count, anyway? They’re so, um, starchy.) But the farmers’ markets are bursting these days with gorgeous veggies of every size and color and I’ve been determined to embrace them. And more importantly, to take them home and to cook and eat them!

Looking for a jump start, I decided to pick up a copy of Fast, Fresh & Green by Susie Middleton because a) it’s gorgeous, b) the recipes sounded delicious, and c) I just don’t have enough cookbooks at home. (That last one is a fib.) I am happy to report that this book seems to have done the trick! I have made a wider variety of veggies in the last few weeks than I have in the past few months—and the whole household is thrilled about it.

I love that this book is organized by cooking style (braising, sauteing, grilling, stir-frying, etc.) and that it includes flavor combos that are interesting, but not weird. But the best thing about Fast, Fresh & Green is that the dishes are super tasty. And (mostly) super quick. This book has served as a great reminder that preparing vegetables can be easy, exciting, and delicious.

-S.B.

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Tried & Tested: Pork & Sons

by S.B. on May 17, 2010

The pink-and-white gingham cover doesn’t exactly scream “serious cookbook,” but Pork & Sons (from Phaidon Press, who is on a major roll with their culinary titles) is a phenomenal and definitive pork cookbook. When I first opened it, I wanted to make practically everything in there. Having cooked from Pork & Sons for a while now has only made me more determined to do so. I recently made the Roast Pork with Herbs and Baby Peas and it Blew. My. Mind. (I guess “blew my taste buds” would be more accurate.) Plus, it was ridiculously easy to make. Seriously, if you like pork, you simply must try this cookbook. From sausages to ham, barbecue to boar, it is jam-packed with deliciousness.

S.B.

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Local winners at the James Beard Awards!

May 4, 2010

Congratulations to Randall Grahm and David Kinch, two big winners at the James Beard Foundation Awards—the Oscars of the foodie world!
Grahm, “the Willy Wonka of the wine world” and founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard, won Best Beverage Book for Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology. We were delighted to celebrate the launch of [...]

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Tried & Tested: My affair with Baking

May 1, 2010
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I have hundreds and hundreds of cookbooks bursting my shelves at home and often feel guilty that I can’t spend as much time with each of them as I’d like. (Is that odd?) So it feels good when I’m able to devote myself to trying out several recipes from one book. Lately, and quite unexpectedly, [...]

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Great new cookbooks!

April 7, 2010
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If you love cookbooks as much as we do, then today is like Christmas!
Three new books by three terrific authors have just arrived: In the Green Kitchen by Alice Waters, Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking by Mario Batali, and Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes by David Leibovitz.
We were lucky to [...]

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